Useful Idiots

Students demonstrate on the Columbia University campus where Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was set to speak during his stay in New York.Lucas Jackson - Reuters

Basically, it's not about us, and all about him. We're mere stooges in a play of his making.

I wrote the following comment on a couple of blogs:

I think the problem with the whole "isn't our country great/freedom of speech/let him expose himself for who he is" line of reasoning, is that back in the Middle East, and in Iran in particular, they are going to cherry-pick/edit what Boellinger said, and what Ahm on a jihad said, for propaganda purposes. We already know he's a monster; and those in the free world who don't understand that, wouldn't have learned anything new about it, from this exchange. What we have given him, is footage that will get edited and spun into propaganda fodder for those back in Iran.

We've allowed ourselves to be used.

My viewpoint was swayed to this line of thinking after listening to a bit of Hugh Hewitt, Friday and Monday.

Today comes validation of the notion that we were all being played like a violin. From the Islamic Republic News Agency:

Despite entire US media objections, negative propagation and hue and cry in recent days over IRI President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's scheduled address at Colombia University, he gave his lecture and answered students questions here on Monday afternoon.

On second day of his entry in New York, and amid standing ovation of the audience that had attended the hall where the Iranian President was to give his lecture as of early hours of the day, Ahmadinejad said that Iran is not going to attack any country in the world.

Before President Ahmadinejad's address, Colombia University Chancellor in a brief address told the audience that they would have the chance to hear Iran's stands as the Iranian President would put them forth.

He said that the Iranians are a peace loving nation, they hate war, and all types of aggression.

Referring to the technological achievements of the Iranian nation in the course of recent years, the president considered them as a sign for the Iranians' resolute will for achieving sustainable development and rapid advancement.

The audience on repeated occasion applauded Ahmadinejad when he touched on international crises.

At the end of his address President Ahmadinejad answered the students' questions on such issues as Israel, Palestine, Iran's nuclear program, the status of women in Iran and a number of other matters.

Is this an accurate portrayal of what happened yesterday?

Also check out Al-Jazeera. And then tell me why giving Ahmadinejad a platform to speak at a prestigious American university was still a good thing. Just check out this list of their cherrypicks from yesterday:

On the Holocaust:

Why is it that the Palestinian people are paying the price for an event they had nothing to do with?

On Holocaust deniers:

My question was simple: There are researchers who want to approach the topic from a different perspective. Why are they put into prison? Why isn't it open to all forms of research?

On Israel as a Jewish state:

We are friends of all the nations. We are also friends with the Jewish people. There are many Jews in Iran living peacefully with security ... in our constitution and our laws and the parliamentary elections for every 150,000 people we get one representative in the parliament. For the Jewish community one-fifth of this number they still get one independent representative in the parliament... What we say is that to solve this 60-year problem, we must allow the Palestinian people to decide about its future for itself.

On nuclear research:

Some big powers create a monopoly over science and prevent other nations in achieving scientific development as well. This, too, is one of the surprises of our time. Some big powers do not want to see the progress of other societies and nations... Regretfully, they have not been trained to serve mankind.

On 9/11:

If the root causes of 9/11 are examined properly - why it happened, what caused it, what were the conditions that led to it, who truly was involved, who was really involved - and put it all together to understand how to prevent the crisis in Iraq, fix the problem in Afghanistan and Iraq combined

What's sad, is not only does this cater to the fancies of a Middle East audience, but also to the impressionable minds of university students held hostage to liberal indoctrination, all the while seeing themselves as "free-thinking" and exposed to "diversity of thought".

Blogging:
Conservatism with Heart
Bloviating Zeppelin
Burkean Reflections
Dragon Lady's Den
Flopping Aces
Freedom Eden
Independence Lost
Marie's Two Cents
Mike's America
Now for Something Different
The Oxford Medievalist

Hugh Hewitt posts:
Calling A Terrorist Fanatic A Terrorist Fanatic: Columbia's Shame
Columbia's Disgrace, Part 2: Hosting A Holocaust-Denying, Genocide-Inciting Terrorist And Killer Of American Soldiers and Marines
Columbia's Disgrace, Part 3
Columbia's Disgrace, Part 4
Announcing The 2007-2008 Columbia Distinguished Lecture Series
Did Columbia Ever Invite Pieter Botha To Speak?
Three Conversations about Columbia's Disgrace
Columbia's Complete Disgrace
"President Bollinger has performed the difficult task of establishing himself as the peerless buffoon in academia today."
"Ahmadinejad In His Own Words"
Thanks, Columbia, For Turning A Holocaust Denier Into A Victim: Columbia Gets Punked
Bollinger's Fantasy World
President Bollinger Uses The Military
"Columbia's Conceit"
Reaping The Propaganda Whirlwind
Mahmoud's "A" List

Dean Barnett:
Blog Post of the Year
Boycott Ahmadenijad
Where's the Left?
Sharia Day at Columbia! (Lee Bollinger's "Hard Questions" Included)
Surprise! Bollinger's Speech Gets an A
Citizen Dinner Jacket

Articles:
Same Idiots, Useful as Ever by Mary Katharine Ham
Mahmoudapalooza: The Good, the Bad, and the Craven by Michelle Malkin
Freedom of Speech is a Messy Affair by Kathleen Parker